chauvinist

A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people. If you grew up in New York and refuse to eat at any pizzeria beyond a five-mile radius of the Empire State Building, you could be described as a New York pizza chauvinist.

The word chauvinist comes from Nicholas Chauvin, a French soldier — probably fictional — who was so devoted to Napoleon that he continued to zealously support the emperor even after Napoleon rejected him. The put-down “male chauvinist pig” describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men. Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men.